Facebook tracks its users’ activity across the web. Here’s how to stop it.
Among security experts, there’s a common refrain about social media services: “If it’s free, you’re paying with your data.”
You likely already know that Facebook uses cookies to follow its users around the web and collects information about their browsing habits, shopping preferences, and more. This data is used to serve users ads more effectively.
But did you know that you can control this tracking activity? In 2019, Facebook added an opt-out option for tracking outside of Facebook. With it, you can clear past information from outside apps and websites and control how much they can see in the future.
Here’s how to find this setting and turn the trackers off.
From your Facebook homepage, go to:
- “Settings and Privacy”
- “Settings”
- “Off-Facebook Activity”
Once you get to the Off-Facebook activity page, you can choose to clear your history and turn off future activity for your account. You can also control the apps for which you want to allow account access (useful for services such as Spotify, Pinterest, or other apps that you login to via Facebook).
Keep in mind that Facebook will continue to prompt you periodically to turn this setting back on, mostly when you connect a new 3rd-party app or website to your account using your Facebook login credentials.
While you can never fully control your data on a free social media network like Facebook, being security savvy can help protect your privacy on the web.